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April 3,
2004
French scientist bikes the salt route along the Mediterranean coast
Wants to Raise awareness of the importance of marshes
Dessomme's goal is to promote the value of salt marshes, collect information from different countries and create contacts to optimize salt production
By Linda Dahdah
You might have seen him laying back, biking on the country's roads. Dragging a small trailer behind what is called a recumbent bike, French scientist Gilles Dessomme is riding around the Mediterranean in defense of salt marshes.
He left France in September 2003 for a one-year bike trip on the salt route along the Mediterranean coasts. Dessomme, 29, gave a presentation of his project on Thursday at Green Line's office in Beirut .
Littoral guard in France , which means he manages protected coastal areas, he spent much of his time on the white salty marshes of Brittany and Camargue. Departing from Guerande in Brittanny, he traveled toward Portugal before riding into the south of France via Spain and then sailing to Tunisia before biking all the way to Lebanon .
"Salt keeps running through my head," Dessomme said. His journey "by bike on the salt routes" has a purpose: To make people aware of the importance of salt marshes, which he considers to be one of the rare sources of harmony between man and nature.
"It is a great gathering of fauna and flora, and in times of high urbanization pressures on coasts, it protects the seaside landscapes," he said.
Taking a year off, his 16,000 kilometer trip is interrupted by about 90 salt marsh stopovers in 14 different Mediterranean countries.
These days the oldest and most traditional salt marshes are mainly abandoned, and industrial production is overcoming the small production of local salt marshes.
"My aim is to promote the value of such areas, collect information by interviewing people who work on such sites in totally different countries, and last but not least, favor exchanges between the salt marshes' actors, like producers, politicians, connoisseurs ... just create contacts among people for them to get optimum results," he said.
"Life started in the sea," he added, "cells need salt to live." Sometimes called white gold, salt was used by Romans as a currency, which is where the word salary came from.
Originally not part of the route, Lebanon became a second option after a friend persuaded Dessomme that the local salt marshes were worth the detour. After pedaling for more than 8,000 kilometers (with a small plane trip over Libya since he was not given the visa), Dessomme reached Lebanon , where he stayed for ten days.
Carrying in his trailer only a few clothes, some food, his electronics material (computer, digital camera) a tent and a light mattress, he sleeps according to convenience.
Pedaling an average of five to seven hours per day, great landscapes and interesting contacts opened Dessomme's eyes to the region's nature and the Arab people's generosity.
Totally different salt marshes from one country to the other enriched Dessomme's experience. In Lebanon , the ancient salt marshes of Anfeh in the North had been of great interest to the scientist.
"Such salt marshes only exist in two places in the Mediterranean area: In Anfeh and on the Island of Gozo in Malta ," he said. The impressive work of Phoenicians, who dug natural holes in the rocks, are impressive and bring a nice tribute to coastal landscape," he said.
Sixty families live off of the salt marsh in Anfeh, and it has a significant impact on the local economy.
Praising the qualities of Anfeh's salt, Dessomme said that industrial salt was usually collected after laying to dry for a whole summer, which carries a lot of impurities. After drying, it is washed, losing many of its powers and its trace elements and minerals.
"When you buy a pack of imported industrial salt, for another LL2,000 or LL3,000 you can get a higher quality salt gathered traditionally. Investing LL2,000 or LL3,000 per year is not that much, I presume," Dessomme said.
The young man is very concerned by the situation of Anfeh's salt marshes since the pressures for development as well as Egyptian salt imports are hindering local productivity. But he added that in the 60s, France went through the same problems, but he said it was all about the revaluation of salt.
At least we can say that we've got the message.
His duty accomplished, Dessomme is getting ready to ride on to new lands and will soon be pursuing his campaign in Turkey , before starting to close the circle back to France .